Posted
by
CmdrTaco
on Wednesday July 09, 2008 @09:00AM
from the or-just-cheapskates dept.

Talinom writes "ZDNet has an article sure to raise the hackles of any self-respecting geek. They report that housewives buying small laptops like the Asus EE are causing Linux usage for that demographic to spike. A reporter for Tech-On states that 'Retailers and contract manufacturers in Taiwan say that novice PC users there, like students and housewives, tend to buy the Linux version of the Eee PC701, while geeks go for Windows XP.'"

Well, I lived in Taiwan for quite a while, and I think Windows is quite common among geeks because (for no clear reason) MSN Messenger has become the No. 1 communication vehicle among the young folks. No one ever asked my ICQ No. or mail address, just my MSN name. Which I still don't have, by the way.

My 40-something housewife non-geek sister called me last month and told me all about her cute new Asus ePC. She loves it. I have no idea where she heard about it or what lead her to purchase it. I was really so surprised I forgot to ask. She's visiting me this week and I'm looking forward to her demonstration.

The sort of games you can play on an Eee PC aren't the sort of games you need Windows XP for. It has an Intel GMA950. You can run zsnes/dgen/etc pretty well. pcsx and mupen work ok at 640x480. Neverball and PlanetPenguin are playable at the same resolution, although the framerate gets a little low if there are too many transparencies. Extreme Tux Racer is too much for the embedded graphics processor.

If you're thinking of installing Windows to play Crysis or Portal then forget it.

When comparing identical hardware, the Windows version is much more expensive. When you look at the model numbers, the Linux and Windows versions are the same price, but the Linux version comes with a much larger SSD.

In respect to the Eee PC 701, the Windows XP and Linux versions are both priced the same. The Windows XP version, however, comes with only one year warranty where the Linux version comes with two. So you trade one year of warranty for a Windows XP License.

The last thing they want to do is wait for Windows to load, defrag for an hour, update the antivirus, and then start using facebook...

Ugh, tell me about it. We had to buy a Vista laptop for my wife to run a medical practice management app, and it's a dual-core system with 2GB of memory. By all accounts it's a fast computer, but by the time Vista finishes booting, all of the "update me!" dialogs have been clicked, and it's actually ready to use, she's cussing at the thing.

By contrast, my Eee PC 4G goes from powered-off to using Firefox in under 30 seconds. It actually ships with an antivirus app if you must have that weekly display of pointlessness, but it doesn't run by default. What's not to like about a system that's infinitely more usable than the much faster, more expensive computer sitting next to it?

Which is why my wife's system has been linux for the last 5 years. Was Mandrake/Mandriva for first 4, and then Kubuntu for the last/current year. (couldn't get Mandriva to install on new box). She loves how stable it is, and really has no needs other than web, email, photos, and office. Throw in Mahjonng and Solitare and that's a conplete PC as far as she is concerned.

If it is available for the distro you're using, give 'keytouch' a try. Works great for my MS Natural Multimedia 1.0A keyboard on kubuntu. (I've been using keytouch with Kubuntu since 6.04 version and have never had any trouble with all the extra buttons not working)

The key is — and I've let all my friends know it — to buy a Linux-based laptop, then install Windows yourself and just snag the drivers from the HP website.
Cheaper, better, and only takes a little while.

It's shocking, I know, and AC may have just been joking, but I'll explain it any way in case someone out there doesn't know.

That's normally the way it's always been, the Windows version gets some kind of perk(s) which ultimately makes it the cheaper version, even though because of the cost of the license it should of course be more expensive. Like on Dell's sit for example, somehow they end up giving these amazing perks to the Windows versions like a bigger hard drive, making the Windows one the better/cheaper deal.

For the EEE, for once, the Linux version is always either cheaper ($50 cheaper in one scenario on New Egg, which means they were charging $50 for the Vista license), or if it's the same price, the Linux version has better hardware. ACTUAL FAIR COMPETITION! Check it out yourself if you don't believe me!:)